Author: Badalian Vardan

MILITARY PARADE TO BE HELD IN STEPANAKERT

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 10:43:21 – 10/04/2012

The capital of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh is getting ready
to celebrate the three holidays in May – Shushi Liberation, 20th
anniversary of the Army and the 67th anniversary of the victory in
World War II.

The Renaissance Square of the city is being reconstructed and
renovated.

On May 9, a big military parade will be held in the square which will
display an unprecedented amount of military equipment.

The park adjacent to the square is also renovated just like other
parts of the town. In general, the town is full of holiday mood.

ARMENIA AND ARGENTINA TO BOOST THEIR RELATIONS IN THE ECONOMIC SPHERE

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 10, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Argentina will sign an
agreement on economic cooperation. The issue is on the agenda of the
cabinet sitting on April 12, Armenpress reports citing Government’s
official web site. The agreement will enable develop long-term economic
relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefits.

The signing of the agreement will promote establishment of mutual
cooperation, creation of favorable conditions for development of
economic relations and business activity.

The agreement stipulates economic development cooperation and
diversification in all the spheres of mutual interest. Armenia-
Argentinean joint commission is scheduled to kick off in the frame
of the agreement.

IS OSKANIAN “RINSING” PAST?
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 10:41:03 – 11/04/2012

Free and fair elections in Armenia have never been as crucial as now.

At the same time, the possibility to hold such elections has never
been so big either, said Vartan Oskanian, N 2 on Prosperous Armenia
Party list, in a meeting with voters in Shengavit community of Yerevan.

By the way, the interesting thing is that Vartan Oskanian met with
the voters without Gagik Tsarukyan. Tsarukyan was campaigning in
Kotayk region.

It is interesting to follow and see whether the separate meetings
of Oskanian and Tsarukyan with the voters, an appreciable feature of
their campaign, will be continuous, a PAP campaign strategy because it
may be an indicator of an interesting situation inside the Prosperous
Armenia Party.

As to Vartan Oskanian’s aforementioned statement, it impossible
to disagree with Oskanian because, in fact, after each fraudulent
election in Armenia the next election acquires a crucial importance.

However, the pronouncement that now we have a good chance to hold
free and fair elections seems to be aimed at “rinsing” the previous
election.

We have an interesting internal situation in place which could help
eliminate the principles of “predictability” of the elections when
the RPA victory was doubtless. But perhaps there is no need to hurry
and evaluate this possibility as an unprecedented one.

The opportunities for free and fair elections are relative and ideas
on them are individual. Even though we have four vs. one, still it
is not a guarantee to free and fair elections because mildly speaking
those four have relative ideas on freedom and justice.

For instance, has Prosperous Armenia followed the free and fair path
in politics which still accompanies the unfree and unfair RPA in
the power?

So, perhaps it is not necessary to draw a line of division between the
upcoming and previous elections because one of the measures of honesty
of the forces running for parliament is the separation between both
elections. In this regard, any line between the present and the past,
even the most insignificant one, will be false and is conjuncture. All
the political forces need to avoid lines. The present and the past
is a single line in Armenia which must be cut in order to advance.

If there is any line to be drawn in Armenia, it is the one between
the Constitution and reality to leave the latter on the other side
of the line and to bring the Constitution to reality.

ECONOMIC CRISIS AND DEMOCRACY
Igor Muradyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 11:38:14 – 11/04/2012

The discussion of political government and democracy is at least
400-500 years old. At least, it was practiced professionally in the
period of the English revolution in the 17th century. Since then
mankind has been racking their heads on the forms of and approaches
to democracy.

The economic crisis paralyzing the world was a tough challenge for
democracy as a method of government and form of thinking. It is crisp
and clear that democracy itself became a factor of crisis, maybe also
the most important factor.

Only in a totally liberal democracy could such a big balloon of
“missing value” occur. In addition, the apologists of the market
continue to complain of lack of genuine democracy as the cause of
this crisis.

At the same time, a lot of outstanding and important minds of the
modern times either thought of or arrived at a conclusion that the
current forms of democracy are disputable and futile. One can hear
that the modern forms of elective democracy are “sheer fraud” and a
means for the global oligarchy to keep power in their hands. There
is a firm belief that it is necessary to “limit” democratic methods
which means prolongation of universalism of the elective system,
replace such a wild profanation as the universal vote by “politics”,
that is different forms of electoral qualification.

In modern world the profanation of public thinking and consciousness
has reached a point when even the educated class has no idea of ongoing
politics and public processes. Total spread of the current form of
education has led the society to false ideas of the right of people
to participate in the political life, the belief that the notion of
politics is quite accessible, and they can bear responsibility for
the destiny of the nation.

At the same time, there is a lack of understanding that such ideal
imagery as “state”, “democracy”, “society” are mere leverages of
external manipulation, a means for certain elites to rule the world
which will never let in the leading groups of the majorities of states
and peoples.

It is time to develop new conditions and methods of forming social
contracts, delegation of rights and the practice of responsibility
of the political class, or more exactly politics of the part of the
society which is responsible for doing politics.

Armenia is in a meaningless search for methods of applying democracy
which is used by Armenia’s foreign “partners” in a classic way.

However, the Armenian society is unfolding a discussion which needs
to be supported and directed in a positive way.

Intensification of brutal processes throughout a huge space between
the eastern borders of the European Union to the western border of
China, the intentions of world powers to re-lay out the geopolitical
map, create new states suppose quite dangerous processes, including
regional wars.

Armenia is supposed to play a very important role in this process,
which supposes forming the necessary ruling regime, economy and
infrastructure of the mobilization type, preparing the country for
this prospect and goals. Armenia cannot stay aloof of the events and
has to win.

Therefore, meaningful and adequate political and social projections
are necessary, as well as establishment of conditions required for
and adequate to the ruling regime. This is the system of values and
humanist approaches to government of the country.

LONG BEACH CONSIDERS MAKING APRIL ‘GENOCIDE AWARENESS MONTH’

89.3 KPCC

April 9 2012
CA

A couple of Los Angeles County public agencies are taking steps this
month to memorialize genocides in foreign countries.

In his motion to establish April as Genocide Awareness Month, Long
Beach Councilman Dee Andrews listed the atrocities that have made
April the cruelest month.

In April 1915, the killings of more than a million Armenians began
in present-day Turkey. The same month, in 1933, the Nazis in Germany
wrote a decree to eliminate European Jews.

April 1975 marked the month the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia began a
campaign of terror now known as the Killing Fields. The killing of
Bosnian Muslims began in April 1992. The Rwandan Genocide began in
the same month in 1994, and ethnic-based killings began in Sudan in
April 2003.

Long Beach has a large Cambodian population that is backing the City
Council genocide awareness motion, which will be taken up next week.

LAUSD’s school board will consider a motion on Tuesday that will
designate April as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Month.

AZERBAIJAN DOUBTS AVAILABILITY OF FILMS FOR FESTIVAL IN GYUMRI

Vestnik Kavkaza
April 9 2012
Russia

The Azerbaijani Ministry for Culture and Tourism does not support
the Azerbaijani Film Festival in Armenia’s Gyumri set for April 12,
1news.az cites Yusuf Sheykhov, head of the cinematography section of
the ministry, as saying.

The official explained that the Azerbaijani ministry cannot cooperate
with Armenia because of the latter’s “occupation policy.”

The Journalist Club in Armenia’s Gyumri planned to host an Azerbaijani
Film Festival on April 12. Four short films made in Azerbaijan
in 2007-2008 (one documentary and three feature films) were to be
demonstrated. One of the films was to be awarded with a premium for
Audience’s Sympathy. The festival was organized within the framework of
the Caucasus World Center and the British and US embassies in Armenia.

ARF-D’S ELECTION CAMPAIGN WILL BE ACTIVE, PURPOSEFUL AND VICTORIOUS

17:37 . 09/04

The political forces participating in the elections enter the election
campaign phase. ARF-D’s election campaign will be active, purposeful
and victorious. With this resolution ARF-D is starting its election
campaign. ARF-D Bureau member Aghvan Vardanyan stated about this
during the event devoted to the start of ARF-D’s election campaign
and to the presentation of the election programme. “For our country
to become a country… We are sure that the election programme is the
basis of the campaign, therefore our campaign starts by presenting
the election programme,” Aghvan Vardanyan has said.

ARF-D programme is competitive and realistic, the Bureau member Davit
Lokyan stated while presenting the pre-election platform of the party.

The necessity of the realization of the civil society is attached
great importance in the programme. “Our programme is a man-citizen
centripetal programme, in which if the works given are implemented
the citizen himself must reform the Republic of Armenia and make it
a prosperous country,” Davit Lokyan says.

Social issues are given a large place in ARF-D’s programme. The party
proposes 200 000 jobs, a job opportunity for every person capable
to work.

According to the member of Supreme Body of ARF-D of Armenia
Arsen Hambartsumyan in the coming five years ensuring employment,
introduction of an adequate remuneration system, improvement of
the demographic situation and poverty reduction will be the party’s
priorities in the sphere of social policy.

The doubling of the minimum salary, providing 5 000-6 000 needy
families with social housing every year, making the annual healthcare
expenses per a person 150 000 AMD instead of the present 63 000 can
significantly change the existing sad picture.

“It will be established in law that the prices on gas, electricity,
and water will not rise in the coming five years and any future change
will be linked with the consumers’ incomes,” NA ARF-D faction member
Ara Nranyan states.

The government constantly declares agriculture as a priority direction
but the problems in the sphere add one to another.

The party intends to reduce the present 11AMD price for one cubic
meter of irrigation water to 7AMD.

“Yes there is maximalism in our programme, in the coming five years
we must succeed in making all that has been stated in our election
programme a reality,” ARF-D bureau member Davit Lokyan said.

NA ARF-D faction member Lilit Galstyan touched upon the educational
sphere: “We foresee a right of quality education for each young person,
an opportunity to promote a creative activity, to work as well as a
full opportunity for self-expression”

But, according to ARF-D Armenia’s Supreme Body representative Armen
Rustamyan, all this will remain on paper, like many laws and the
Constitution are on a paper, if we don’t have an authority which will
really serve the people.

Armen Rustamyan calls for a system authority change, when an authority
will come, which will not use its position in its interests but will
be guided with the united interest of the state and the people.

“Unfortunately, so far we haven’t had such an authority. This is the
fact. Since independence we haven’t had an authority, which would
fully serve its people. They have rather served the interests of the
rulers, who came to power,” Armen Rustamyan said in his speech.

Economists participating in the presentation of ARF-D’s programme
evaluated professionally the document presented to the public’s
opinion.

Economist Andranik Tevanyan: “A programme of high expert quality
was presented. As to its being realistic, here, too the approaches
are justified”.

“It was the only political force in which no unrest took place. Yes,
every one has his/her work. This shows once again the greatness,
which it put in the basis of its programme and in its approaches,”
NA PAP faction member Vardan Bostanjayn said.

TURKEY’S PROSPECTS OF BRINGING PEACE TO REGION ‘RESTRICTED’

News.Az
Mon 09 April 2012 04:58 GMT | 5:58 Local Time

News.Az interviews Emre Isheri (Ä°seri), an assistant professor of
international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

How would you assess Azerbaijani-Turkish energy cooperation?

Resources from Azerbaijan play a profound role in ensuring Turkey’s
energy security in terms of energy diversification. Besides, those
resources bolster Turkey’s prospects of meeting its pledge to become
the fourth energy artery of Europe. From Baku’s perspective, Turkey
is not only a reliable market, but also a route to European energy
markets bypassing Russia.

Do you believe in the Trans-Caspian pipeline project?

At a time of on-going financial crisis and with a lack of political
will, it seems likely the relatively low-profile Trans-Caspian is a
much more feasible project than Nabucco.

How might tensions over Iran and a possible war reflect on the South
Caucasus and Turkish policy in the region?

As I noted above, Azeri resources bolster Turkey’s energy security
by providing additional avenues to feed its growing thirst away from
Russia and Iran.

Along with that, it is known that Azeri prices are much cheaper
than alternatives. In the event of war prices will probably rise,
and Baku will be at the top of Ankara’s list of who to call to ask
for additional supplies.

How successful has Turkey’s policy of “zero problems with neighbours”
been so far? What do you think about the prospects for the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process?

When you talk with commentators close to the ruling AK Party, they
will tell you that zero-problems with neighbours is an ideal and it
is likely that there will be problems on the way to reaching this
ultimate goal. With several tactical revisions of the policy, Ankara
will achieve this objective.

In my opinion, however, Turkey’s regional power capabilities and
domestic constraints restrict Turkey’s prospects of transforming its
conflict-ridden immediate neighbourhood into a peaceful environment.

Against this backdrop, Turkey’s initiative to normalize its relations
with Armenia has failed.

Dr Isheri’s areas of research include Euro-Asian politics, energy
security and Turkish foreign policy.

COMMUNIST PARTY AIMS FOR 15-17% OF VOTES IN ARMENIA’S PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

news.am
April 09, 2012 | 16:13

YEREVAN. – The Communist Party of Armenia (CPA) expects to receive
15-17 percent of the ballots to be cast during the country’s National
Assembly elections to be held on May 6, the Party’s leader Ruben
Tovmasyan said during a press conference on Monday.

In Tovmasyan’s words, the CPA is confident that it could receive such
considerable percentage of the votes because “there are 1 million
and 300 thousand poor in the country, and they have not forgotten
the Communist times.”

Speaking about the political parties’ election campaign videos,
Tovmasyan noted their main content is the social topic. And the CPA
leader is mostly surprised that this topic is being used by those
parties during whose rule the citizens’ social situation had sharply
deteriorated.

And with respect to the CPA’s campaign funding, Ruben Tovmasyan noted
that, considering the Communist Party’s dire financial situation,
it was assisted by the Armenian community of Russia, and by way of
organizing fundraisers.

‘LIKE CASABLANCA IN WORLD WAR II’: AS IRAN TENSIONS GROW, AZERBAIJAN BECOMES DEN OF SPIES

Http://Worldnews.Msnbc.Msn.Com/_news/2012/04/09/11036848-Like-Casablanca-In- World-War-Ii-As-Iran-Tensions-Grow-Azerbaijan-Becomes-Den-Of-Spies?Lite

Joern Haufe / dapd via AP, file

The $350 million Flame Towers are due to be official opened in the
center of Baku, Azerbaijan, later this spring. A secular dictatorship
with a long border with Iran, Azerbaijan is one of the few remaining
countries than can act as a reliable listening post for America and
Israel.

By Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

A Soviet-legacy oil nation is emerging as a hotbed of global
espionage as tension escalates between Israel and Iran.

Azerbaijan, which links Russia to the Middle East, has strategic
importance as a bridgehead for the West in its war of diplomacy with
Tehran.

A secular dictatorship with a long border with Iran, it is one of the
few remaining countries than can act as a reliable listening post for
America and Israel, turning its capital, Baku, into a hotbed of
intelligence activity.

“Like Casablanca in World War II, Baku is now also a center of
monitoring Iranian mischief,” Ariel Cohen, senior research fellow at
the Washington-based Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for
International Studies, part of the Heritage Foundation, told
msnbc.com. “This is understandable taking into account visa-free
regime of travel between the two countries and aggressive Iranian
intelligence tactics.”

NYT: US defines first move in new talks with Iran

Recent events have lifted the lid on some of the international
maneuvering in Baku. In March, Azeri security services arrested 22
people they say were trained by Iran to carry out terrorist attacks
against the US and Israeli embassies.

In January, two accused of plotting to kill teachers at a Jewish
school were also held.

‘The Israelis are more subtle’
Most experts agree there are many Mossad agents in Azerbaijan working
for Israel.

“The Iranians act in the open, they want everyone to know that they
are here,” Dr. Arastun Orujl, director of the east-West Research
Center in Baku told Britain’s Times newspaper. “The Israelis are more
subtle, like the Americans. But in the end everyone knows they are
here, too.”

Iran lawmaker: We can produce nuclear weapons

So why does Azerbaijan matter? Not only does its geography make it
an ideal place for the U.S. and its allies to face down Tehran, but
its political history entangles it in the current tensions with Israel.

Millions living in northern Iran are ethnic Azeris, theoretically
binding the two nations. But Azerbaijan has allied itself increasingly
with Israel and the West as it uses its oil wealth to leverage its
global standing.

“It was one of the first countries to back America after 9/11,”
Gerald Frost, director of the Paris-based Caspian Information Centre
told msnbc.com. “It is as politically helpful to the West as its
position close to the Middle East will allow. America needs to pay
it close attention.”

While the country has made concessions to the West, it remains a
dynastic dictatorship under the rule of Ilham Aliyev, who inherited
power from father Heydar Aliyev, a former Soviet leader who reinvented
himself as a nationalist during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ilham
took over in a 2003 election described by Human Rights Watch as
“fraudulent” and which it said was “followed by protests that turned
violent, plunging Azerbaijan into a human rights crisis from which
it has not recovered”.

David W Cerny / Reuters

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev answers questions during a news
conference in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 5.

Israel last year established a factory in Azerbaijan making parts for
its military drones, and has supplied the countrywith $1.6 billion
worth of military equipment.

The BBC reported Russia President Vladimir Putin “surprised Western
leaders” in 2007 by offering to let America use its radar base in
Azerbaijan to defend Europe against any missile attack from Iran.

Cohen says Iran has been trying undermine Azerbaijan’s secular position
in the hopes of turning it from a dictatorship into a theocracy,
echoing the transition of countries such as Libya and Egypt that now
appear destined to be ruled by conservative Islamists.

Mark Perry, in a Foreign Policy article titled “Israel’s Secret
Staging Ground”, claimed Obama administration officials now believe
that the security cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is actually
“heightening the risks of an Israeli strike on Iran”.

Azerbaijan has denied it would allow the U.S. or Israel to launch
airstrikes, although Frost noted that it could provide associated
support since it already allows the U.S. military into its airspace
to reach Afghanistan and to evacuate injured troops.

While ties with Israel deepen, the future relationship with the United
States is less clear because Washington does not currently have
an ambassador in Baku. The last holder of the post, Matthew Bryza,
left last year after his appointment was not confirmed by Congress, a
decision Frost believes is likely to have been influenced by America’s
powerful Armenian lobby.

Cultural boom Meanwhile, its strategic importance is being echoed
in a cultural boom. Baku is enjoying a Dubai-style explosion of
luxury hotels and designer fashion stores. “It is all very glitzy,
very much reflecting the way Azeris want to be seen as an establish
European-style country rather than a backwater,” said Ben Illis,
co-author of a new Time Out guide to Baku, which is due to be published
next month.

It has launched a major tourism advertising campaign, and its
ambitious bid to host the 2020 Olympic games found its way onto the
IOC shortlist.

This spring is expected to see the unveiling of the $350 million Flame
Towers – three glass-sided skyscrapers up to 620ft in height inspired
by the country’s ancient association with fire. Human Rights Watch
says “thousands of residents” have been forcibly evicted to make way
for some of these projects.

However, billing itself as tourism destination may be a challenge for
a country that still has a very poor human rights record and still
is often confused with Kazakhstan, home of comic creation Borat.

An unlikely litmus test of its political ambitions will come next month
when it hosts the Eurovision Song Contest, a live music competition
beamed across Europe that is a byword for kitsch (it was once won by
a transexual representing Israel). Baku’s bitter enemy, neighboring
Armenia, pulled out of the contest in disgust when an Azeri duo won
last year.

David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters, file

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 winners Eldar Gasimov (2nd left) and Nigar
Jamal (2nd right), who are known as Ell-Nikki, are greeted by fans
in Baku. Their victory means Baku will host this year’s competition.

“This will perhaps be a good indication of how far the regime is
prepared to go to further its relationship with the west,” said James
Nixey, of British think tank Chatham House.